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Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Review - 'The Flash', S02E20 - 'Rupture'

A couple of episodes ago, we had a
moment where Barry Allen willingly gave up his powers in order to
save the life of Wally West. It was a moment which was supposed to
come across as a tense, dramatic, and very necessary, sacrifice on
Barry's part – but, thanks to the way the scene was scripted, it
just didn't come across that way. What we had, instead, was Wally
West already set free, while Barry chose to give up his powers
anyway, just because he had given his word. It was a frustrating
scene at the time – and, it still frustrates me, now.

In the previous episode, Barry's plan
to deal with the 'villain of the week' (who, it should be remembered,
was actually little more than a scared and desperate kid) was to,
essentially, trick him into killing himself. If we were supposed come
out of that episode believing that Griffin Grey had survived then,
once again, the point really wasn't conveyed very well. If not, then
that means that Barry willingly killed a meta-human – and, no one
felt any particular urge to call Barry out on it. Either way, it was
frustrating.

The point I'm getting at, here, is that
I just haven't been very impressed with Barry Allen, lately – and,
the fault for that, I believe, lies largely with the writing and
direction of the previous episodes.

The previous episode did, however, end
with Harrison Wells announcing his intention to recreate the
circumstances that gave Barry his powers. That meant that there was,
at least, some small possibility that we would soon be able to put
all of this nonsense behind us. So, going in to this episode, that is
exactly what I decided to do – to put aside the frustrations of the
past few weeks in order to judge this newest episode on its own
merits (which seems only fair, after all).

As the episode opens, we learn that
Harrison Wells has, apparently, been hard at work on developing a
safe, and contained, method of creating the accident which initially
gave Barry his powers – while, at the same time, the rest of the
team are just as hard at work trying to convince the city that a
hologram they have concocted is actually the Flash. While the
hologram seems to be working for the moment, though, it is fairly
clear to everyone (especially Wells) that it is only a temporary
solution, at best. Despite this, though, Barry seems reluctant to go
along with Wells's plan.

His uncertainty is understandable, of
course. After all, the initial accident left him in a coma for nine
months before he was able to emerge as the Flash – and, on top of
that, it was also responsible for creating just about every
meta-human who has emerged in the time since. Just as understandably,
though, Wells finds himself growing increasingly frustrated with the
rest of the team's refusal to see things his way – Wells has, after
all, already lived through Zoom's reign of terror on Earth-2, so he
clearly feels that he knows what's coming now that Zoom is free to
travel to Earth-1, once more.

Wells's fears are quickly confirmed,
too, when Zoom re-emerges at the Central City Police Station,
seemingly set on taking it over and making it his new base of
operations. With Caitlin being brought along for the ride, it's only
through her pleas of mercy that any of the officers are even allowed
to leave the station alive.

With Zoom active once more, it seems
inevitable that Barry will soon find himself pushed toward doing
whatever is necessary to get his powers back – even if it is a
decision made out of pure desperation. Even still, though, the
sequence of events which led to Barry making that seemingly
inevitable choice, here, have to be among the darkest moments we have
ever seen on The Flash.

While
I do have to admit that I was, initially, somewhat worried that Zoom
being unmasked as Hunter Zolomon would undermine the effectiveness of
the character as a genuine threat, that simply hasn't been the case,
so far. If anything, Teddy Sears as managed to give us a character
who seems more unhinged and dangerous than that faceless mask had
ever been. His disturbing fixation on Caitlin, and his willingness to
kill an entire room full of innocent police officers just to make a
point, would have to rival anything we have seen even on the usually
more grim and serious Arrow.
The fact that we still have occasionally moments of Tony Todd's
imposing voice coming out of that intimidating mask really only
enhances the character's effectiveness.

Zoom isn't the only villain to make an
appearance in this episode, though. Rupture, the villainous Earth-2
double of Cisco's brother, Dante (Nicholas Gonzales), has also made
his way over from Earth-2 – and, he is looking for revenge for the
death of his own brother, Reverb (Cisco's own villainous double).
It's an amusingly convoluted situation – one that is only made
more so by the fact that it all takes place just as Cisco makes an
unsuccessful attempt to reconnect with Dante.

Even though Rupture, himself, really
amounted to little more than another example of the bland and
undeveloped 'one-off' villains we have had since the beginning, there
was still a fair bit to enjoy about his appearance – not from the
character himself, of course, but rather what his presence means for
Cisco, and his relationship with his own brother. For one thing,
there was definitely an enjoyable element of irony in this episode's
implication that Rupture and Reverb may, in fact, have had a more
genuinely loving brotherly relationship than Cisco and Dante – but,
beyond that, there was also the very genuine possibility that
Rupture's appearance might provide them with the catalyst to finally
begin working on their own issues.

Nicholas Gonzales may have had only one
previous appearance on The Flash
– but, in his brief time on screen, he has still managed to give a
great performance as Cisco's antagonistic older brother. He may not
have succeeded quite as well at developing Rupture into an equally
well-rounded character, but this episode still managed to feature
some very strong scenes between Dante and Cisco – something which
he, and Carlos Valdes, deserve equal credit for.

Beyond
that, though, this was a great episode for just about everyone.
Caitlin had the opportunity to display some great moments of genuine
bravery as she attempted to use whatever influence she possessed to
curtail Zoom's more violent impulses, as well as taking any
opportunity to quietly work against him. Wally West and Jesse Wells
had a few amusing moments together, as they found themselves hidden
away together for their own protection. Also, given the status of
each character's comic-book incarnation as a fellow Speedster, the
fact that they just happen to be at STAR Labs in time for the
aftermath of Wells's attempt to restore Barry's own super-speed
should be enough to offer some interesting hints about where things
are headed.

One of
the clearest high-lights of this episode, though, would have to be
John Wesley Shipp reappearing in the role of Henry Allen. His initial
casting, back in the first season, may have been intended more as an
entertaining bit of stunt casting, given his previous acting history
– but, he had quickly managed to become a very important part of
the first season's success. Seeing him here, encouraging Barry and
arguing with Harrison Wells, was enough to make me wish he had never
left.

With
only three episodes left in the season, this felt like a very
important episode – one intended to set the scene for the season's
final confrontation between Zoom and the Flash. Of course, the fact
that it also managed to end with something of an unexpected
last-minute twist added some fascinating new complications to the
second season's final arc. The last couple of episodes of The
Flash are still a source of
frustration, for me – but, this episode seems to have managed to
get things back onto the right track as we move toward the finale.